Alienation of immovable property of migrants without permission of Revenue and Relief Minister null and void: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has recently ruled that the alienation of any immovable property of a migrant under the Jammu & Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997 without permission from the Revenue and Relief Minister has to be treated as null and void (Ghulam Rasool Bhat V/s State of J&K & Ors)..Justice Sanjay Dhar refused to quash the order passed by the Deputy Commissioner, Budgam, whereby Tehsildar Chadoora had been directed to take over possession of a land which was obtained by the petitioner from two persons considered as migrants under the Act."Any alienation of immovable property of a migrant without previous permission of Revenue and Relief Minister has to be treated as null and void," the Court said..The order was passed by the Deputy Commissioner in exercise of his powers under section 4(1) of the 1997 Act..In the plea, the petitioner submitted that he had purchased a parcel of land from one Madusudan Razdan and Ashok Kumar Razdan in the year 1989 and obtained possession of land from them accordingly..It was stated by the petitioner that a proper sale deed could not be executed but an agreement to sell was executed by both of them in favour of the petitioner..The petitioner also contended that he had paid a consideration of ₹4 lakh to the owners of the land regarding which a separate receipt was issued by them and a power of attorney was also executed in favour of the petitioner on February 23, 1998.."The primary contention of the petitioner is that he is in possession of the land in question on the basis of agreement to sell, Power of Attorney and receipt of money executed by the owners of the land in his favour, which means that his possession over the land in question is permissive and not unauthorized," the Court noted..The counsel for the respondents contended that the Act of 1997 is a special legislation and it overrides all other laws and therefore, the petitioner cannot claim possession over the land belonging to a migrant except in accordance with the procedure prescribed in the Act of 1997..The Court said that it is clear that any alienation of immovable property of a migrant without any prior permission of the Revenue and Relief Minister has to be treated as null and void. In the present case, the Court noted that no such permission of the Revenue and Relief Minister has either been sought or granted for alienation of the land.The documents, on the basis of which petitioner is claiming possession and which have admittedly been executed after the coming into force of the Act of 1997, are null and void, it added.."The petitioner, therefore, cannot claim any right including the right to possess the property in question, on the basis of documents produced by him which are not even registered," the Court ruled..It, therefore, dismissed the plea. [Read Judgment]